Sunday, December 27, 2009

Friends Happy Belated Christmas wishes and advance Happy New Year 2010 wishes to all of you.I am happy that Comic Market has got a encouraging and warm welcome from all of you and i hope it will prove to serve that greater purpose for which it has been introduced and that can be achieved only when more and more comic collectors will participate in it and put comic trade offers.Hence to make the process easy and smooth i ask comic collectors/lovers who wish to make offers on Comic Market to come forward and i will be granting them posting rights on Comic Market so that they can make their offers directly by posting on blog rather than my being a medium to do so.Interested persons please let me know along with their mail id so that i can grant them authorship rights.

Well,the first comic of this post is 'The Missing Virus X',a Corrigan comic published in 1973 by AFI comics for New World Publication of Mumbai,a unknown Indian publication.I have no more information about this publication,its publications and character details.If anybody have more information about it then please share.Highlights of this comic are superb illustrations with well depicted story,i have never read a better Corrigan story than this though my scope of Corrigan comics is limited to Indrajal comics only where its comics were so-so regarding quality.

In India Superman and Batman comics were introduced by Dolton Comics(Chennai) in 1982,which used to publish them bilingually(English/Hindi) fortnightly.I was a avid reader of Hindi Dolton comics during mid 80's but the word to word Hindi translation of the English version proved a setback for Hindi version and at a later stage Hindi version doesn't used to appeal me that much as it used to initially.Here is the very first issue of Superman/Batman of Dolton Comics for all of you.

As we have discussed earlier many times that Manoj Chitra Katha were no doubt the best to produce comics with best attractive covers in initial phase with the help of brilliant cover artist C.M.Vitankar,though Vitankar also designed cover for Amar Chitra Katha but there the cover quality was much inferior if compared with those of MCK.The credit goes to Vitankar,no doubt,but along with him the layout and printing quality of MCK also deserve credit.One such comic with brilliant cover by C.M.Vitankar is presented here for all of you.Its a hilarious comic with superb script by Bimal Chatterji and befitting illustrations by Jitendra Bedi or Bedi as popularly known.Comic consists of three short stories all very entertaining and a joy to read.The base of these stories were stories from Alif Laila or Arabian Nights from where Bimal Chatterji might have drawn inspiration.I remember in my childhood,long before MCKs were started,my maternal uncle use to tell me the stories from Arabian Nights,and all the stories in this comic i have heard long back from him.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Friends,we all are comic lovers and most of among us are collectors who are in constant search for their cherished comics.We regularly and religiously search for our most sought comics but since almost all of our cherished comics are not in publication now so day by day its becoming very tough to find our most sought and missing comics.Three-four years back from now it was comparatively easier to find these comics but with the advent of numerous comic blogs,the craze for comics has been revived again,specially for those comics which were associated with our childhood.Everyone wishes to revive those nostalgic moments which are hidden in the pages of comics which we have read in our childhood.For eg.,comic top in chart is Indrajal comics,these are most sought comics of today and can be considered as money spinners for old book shop keepers and vendors.Few years back from now they were easily available at a rate ranging from Rs.5-25/copy depending upon the issue no.,language and character,but nowadays its very difficult and costly affair to get hold of a early issue of IJC,specially between no.1 and 300.My personal experience is a surprising witness to this exponential increment in rates of vintage IJC as i was offered few issues of IJC within the issue range #100-200 for a whooping price of Rs.1000/-(One Thousand Rupees) per copy by a fellow blogger and friend,which i politely turned down.At ebay IJCs are being quoted at a crazy price,the book markets of Kolkata,Lucknow and Delhi are charging early vintage issues within a price range of Hundreds of Rupees.Now,its not IJC alone which is enjoying manifold price range,other vintage comics such as Manoj Chitra Katha,Dolton Comics,Madumuskan,Star Comics,Chandamama,Deewana,Amar Chitra Katha,Tinkles etc are also being sold within a price range of Rs.15-100/- copy depending upon the availability,demand of that particular comic and craziness of comic lovers.Even the Bal-pocket books of S.C.Bedi series Rajan Iqbal novels which were aptly available at Rs.1/copy are now being demanded as Rs.5-10/copy by old comics vendors.Magazines such as The Illustrated Weekly of India,of which i purchased around 70+ issues quite cheap,are now being offered at minimum Rs.250/-copy.Sensing the sharp spike in vintage and old comics demand many comic 'brokers' have also been raised up,who assures to arrange comics on 'commission' basis.Its becoming more and more difficult with time to get access to these vintage comics within a reasonable price range for a comic lover of middle class financial condition.Many of us may be having a no. of comics along with duplicate issues and/or those comics which are least in our priority list and which we can swap/exchange with our other missing comics.Keeping this very thought in mind an idea hit me that wouldn't it be possible if we can help each other?Can we help each other to increase and improve our collection?It will be very much easier and economical if we can swap our required/missing comic within ourselves so that we can dispose our unnecessary comics and duplicate issues,which may be very much sought by others,by swapping and exchanging comics among ourselves.By this we can increase and complete our collection much faster and economically by helping and being helped by other comic lovers.For this purpose i have planned to introduce a separate blog(COMIC MARKET) where we can offer our spare and non-required comics to other comic lover for exchanging/trading comics within ourselves.One can also dispose off his/her comics by offering them for sale,but pls don't quote unreasonable and exorbitant price as this blog doesn't wish to serve as a business platform for professional comic sellers.Hence,this very comic blog is named as Comic Market where you can offer your spare and other comics for swap/trade/exchange and sale in order to mutually help each other.Though this blog is named as Comic Market but it will not serve as a typical market,rather its a 'Haat'(trade place),where we can trade within our necessities of comics.I,myself have many duplicate issues as well as other non-required comics which i will be gladly offering to those who are requiring/missing them in lieu of my other required and missing comics.So,friends don't forget to check Comic Market from now onwards for new updates on comics as you never know when can you get hold of your most cherished comics there.

During my recent comic hunt i came across with few vintage issues of Chandamama,which i gladly picked up along with many other vintage and rare issues of other comics such as Madhumsukans,Parag,ACKs and others.Covers of few of those vintage comics are here for you.

Chalte-chalte..a big post is due for all of you,but somehow not slipping into suitable mood and finding enough time to shape it to a satisfactory level.Anyway,will try hard to finish it soon.Continue Reading »

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Friends,its very sad to inform all of you that Mr. Govind Brahamania(71) is no more now.He passed away on 9th December 2009 at his Mumbai residence due to a massive heart attack.Govind Brahamania(2nd March 1938-9th December 2009) was known mainly as the illustrator of first Indian comic Hero,Bahadur,created by Abid Surti,but apart from Bahadur he was the man behind the creation of some of the best Phantom cover art design for Indrajal comics in its initial phase.The cover designed and illustrated by him are still considered as the best covers in the history of Indrajal comics,he imparted a paint like look on covers alike Gold key Phantom covers.

(Image courtesy:Alok Bhai)

During middle phase of Indrajal comics he associated with Abid Ji for Bahadur illustrations and continued with it till 1990 when TOI cancelled the publication,though Abid Ji left Bahadur and he continued with Jagjit Utpal till end.There are not much details available with me of his work other than in Indrajal comics,hope i could collect and compile more such information in upcoming post for all of you.He will always be remembered as great artist whenever there will be talk of Indian comic illustrators.Have a look at few of his Phantom covers designed for Indrajal.

Monday, November 30, 2009

Friends,Tarzan has been published by mostly Kiran Comics in India,but there was another Indian publication which perhaps was the first to publish Tarzan in India,and that was Vidyarthi Mithram(Student friend) comics from Kottayam(Kerala).

Few weeks from today i was totally unaware about this publication until i got hold of some of VM Tarzan comics very recently.From the ad at the back page of their comics its seems that VM were mainly dealer of scientific and laboratory equipments for schools/colleges,its amazing to notice that they also use to publish comics.In one of their ad its mentioned that they also use to publish Phantom and Mandrake,though Phantom was published in Malayalam and Tamil,Mandrake in Malayalam and Tarzan in English,Hindi and Tamil.

Going by this its totally new information about Phantom and Mandrake Indian publications,as far as my information is concerned VM has never been mentioned anywhere among Phantom/Mandrake Indian publications,even in Bryan Sheddensite over Phantom which is considered as best complete reference guide for Phantom publications of all over the world,VM has not been mentioned there also in Indian Phantom publication list.Perhaps Rafiq or Col.Worobu can throw more light on VM Phantom/Mandrake editions.

VM started publishing Tarzan in early 70's,hence going by this VM becomes the first Indian Tarzan publication as Kiran Comics was started in 80's.Early issues of VM Tarzan were in monochrome color and later issues in 4 color format.

These are mostly illustrated by John Celardo and others,Col.Worobu can you tell more about this Tarzan illustrator!!.

Chitra Bharati Kathamala

In early 80's reading culture was at its peak and comic business was a highly profitable business as already proved by super success of Indrajal comics,Amar Chitra Katha,Manoj Chitra Katha,Dalton Comics and many other publications at that time.Sensing the business opportunity in comic industry a already well established name in school/college books publication house,S.Chand & Company of Delhi thought of trying its hand in comic publication and started Chitra Bharati Kathamala,which use to publish comics based on Historical stories,science fiction,comedy series and on well known historical persons life story.

Though comics from this publication were of sub-standard except few series such as those written-illustrated by Anupam Sinha such as Kapil,Space Star,Mahamaya and other.

Junior James Bond by Sukhwant was also one of the popular characters of Chitra Bharati.

In late 80's and early 90's reading culture took a back seat with the advent of T.V/Video and comic business no longer remained a profitable venture.Comic publication houses shutters start dropping down due to cold business and in one such year S.Chand and Company also bid adieu to Comic publication and Chitra Bharati Kathamala became a history in readers mind.Though not of very high quality but still CBK will be remembered by avid comic readers because of Anupam Sinha creations in it.

Today's ComicComic of this post is contributed by Navdeep,hence all credit to him only.This is a Fauladi Singh comic,hope will be liked by FS lovers.